A $240 MILLION rehabilitation building project at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center will probably be completed by January 2026, but changing the culture in California’s prisons will take decades and could face many challenges.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jeff Macomber and Clark Kelso, the court-appointed federal receiver for California Correctional Health Care Services, sat down for a two-part discussion about the California model on a podcast called “CDRC Unlocked.”
The California model is a systemwide change that draws on national and international best practices to change the culture within the state’s prisons and improve conditions for all who live and work in them, according to CDCR.
“I think the California model is simply a necessary change at this point in California’s history of corrections,” said Kelso. “What we have been doing the last 20-25 years simply hasn’t worked. It hasn’t worked for CDCR employees, the incarcerated population or the public.”
But the California model faces some serious challenges. First, it will take years to perfect, according to Kelso and Macomber. Next, much of what it entails remains unclear and future governors may not support it.
“Corrections leaders are enthusiastic about making it work,” said Macomber. “We have the full support of the governor’s office and the Legislature.”
The four pillars of reform
What makes the California model unique from other reform efforts, according to Macomber, is “it focuses on the day to day interactions between staff and the incarcerated population.”
Kelso said he is excited because this new model focuses on improving outcomes for staff, improving their work environment and reducing stress, which has never been the focus of CDCR reforms in the past. The California model has four foundational pillars: dynamic security, normalization, peer support, and trauma-informed care.
Dynamic security is about improving relationships between corrections staff and incarcerated people, which Kelso and Macomber admitted will be difficult. Normalization is about making prison life as close to life in the community as possible, to make for a smoother transition upon reentry.
“Next year in 2025, we plan to do a course for our staff that better describes where we’re headed, what normalization means, and what dynamic security means,” said Macomber.
Peer support will include training incarcerated individuals to use their rehabilitative skills and lived experience to mentor peers. But becoming trauma-informed is not readily understood.
“Becoming a trauma-informed organization is an extraordinarily complex endeavor, because there are so many things that affect people in their sense of stresses during the day, so it’s not something we have easy answers for,” said Kelso.
But Macomber hopes staff wellness can be largely improved through training and education. “Our correctional staff have PTSD rates higher than Gulf War veterans,” said Macomber. “We want to see our staff living 30 years after retirement.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed similar sentiments last year during a speech inside San Quentin.
“Ten percent of correctional officers either commit suicide or attempt to do so,” Newsom said.
The governor said the system is hurting everybody. But many incarcerated individuals believe correctional officers are partly to blame for a culture of violence in prisons.
Silencing the violence
In a letter received from the Central California Women’s Facility, Bianca Harris writes, “I have been incarcerated for twenty years and I must say that the level of violence among inmates and staff alike is at an all-time high.”
Betty Martinez, who is also at CCWF, wrote, “Most of the women population here have suffered from some type of physical, emotional, or mental abuse from men in their life prior to coming to prison.”
There is also a history of sexual abuse, according to CCWF women, an issue which led to the total closure of a federal prison in Dublin earlier this year.
“Our main goal is to train staff to understand their role as being more like mentors, who encourage incarcerated individuals to involve themselves in rehabilitation. We want to encourage positive, respectful relationships.”
Clark Kelso, federal receiver for California Correctional Health Care Services
Kelso and Macomber in the podcast didn’t discuss the history of violence committed by officers against the incarcerated. They also avoid discussing the structural racism in California prisons, which is an issue of concern raised by the Reparations Task Force, which was established by the state Legislature in 2020 to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.
A 2018 study by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office found the California prison system has a population that is 44 percent Hispanic and almost 30 percent African American. Kelso plans to judge the success of the new model by looking for reductions in daily violence, stress, and the number of rule violation reports received by the incarcerated population.
“Our main goal is to train staff to understand their role as being more like mentors, who encourage incarcerated individuals to involve themselves in rehabilitation,” said Kelso. “We want to encourage positive, respectful relationships.”
The long-term vision of the new model is to promote public safety by reducing recidivism rates, transforming those incarcerated individuals who can be transformed, and for staff to work and have a career without it tearing them apart, according to Macomber and Kelso.
The new model is being piloted at eight different California prisons.
“I think we’ve made a very great start to what is going to be a long-term improvement process,” said Kelso.
“We’re not envisioning unicorns landing on the yard once the California model is complete, or a perpetual rainbow,” said Macomber. “We’re still going to have challenges, but if we can make incremental improvements, improve the life of staff, create safer communities, I’m all for it.”
Steve Brooks is a California Local News Fellow with Bay City News Foundation, reporting from inside San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. His perspective gives readers insight into issues and news from inside the prison. See more of his work at Inside/Out on Local News Matters.
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